Hi Marsha It's them alright. As the street name of Station Road is quite a common one, I went back to the 1901 enumeration district description. Using a reasonably current A-Z street map of Birmingham and area, I can plot Thomas Bond's movements from 1891 onwards, and obviously Catherine Meere from 1901. The roads are still there, which is lucky. In 1891 Thomas is living on a main road that goes south to Harborne, in the Ladywood area, which is to the south west of Birmingham centre. The other 3 addresses are within a quarter mile, half mile max of one another. High Street Harborne runs west to east, linking up with Harborne Road, and swinging upwards, this eventually links to Monument Road. One of the roads leading off from High Street upwards is Station Road. Another road leading south from High Street is Vivian Road. Despite the inaccuracies in age and place of birth, I am fairly convinced Thomas and Catherine are the right people. Too much of a coincidence. Some further ways to research them more fully, but you either need to ask for someone on the ground to check some details out for you, or if you come over to England for a holiday, take a trip to Brum. 1. Trade directories - some are online - you may be able to track Thomas through his occupation or through street directories. 2. Rate books. 3. Electoral records. These won't show Catherine until 1919, as she won't have a vote until then, but you would then be able to track them to when they moved to various addresses exactly. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether these pieces of information would be held in Birmingham Central library, or elsewhere. I say this because the area you are looking at was assigned to Worcestershire, and it was only as Birmingham expanded and claimed more suburbs, that all the areas we now talk about as Birmingham came into the bigger pot. This was either late nineteenth or early twentieth century. It's not my area, but I'm sure one of the other regular posters would be able to enlighten us on that aspect. Anyway, it certainly seems to me that Catherine was living over the brush with Thomas, possibly because he was still married and couldn't get a divorce? I know he says he is widowed, but that could be another convenient blurring of facts. Lot of supposition, but I think the fact that they were living together and gave it out that they were married would be easy in a suburb of a big urban conurbation. Easy to be anonymous in the crowd. Regards Ellen ________________________________ From: Stringer <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, 28 July, 2010 22:25:02 Subject: Re: [WAR] Missing Catherine Jane MEERE in 1911 Census Hi Ellen, Wow, never thought of that variant! Thank You so much! Do you think the additional details support the hypothesis? Different address, but same area. He's the same age in the censuses. Catherine (really b 1851) said 1854 in 1901 and 1860 in 1911 (reverse aging). Catherine had always said b Ilmington before, but he filled out/signed in 1911. For 1891, there's a Thomas BOND,25, in Lady Wood, Cab Driver, 150, Monument Road, Birmingham (married) 1901 Census. Finally found via MaryAnn, as MAN. Then found Catherine's Index, also MAN: 47 Warwickshire Hennington (really Ilmington) Birmingham Harborne General Domestic (Really Age 50) RG13 Piece: 2817 Folio: 109 Page: 17 Birmingham, CivPar: Harborne; EclPar: St. John's; Cty: Bham; Ward: Edgbaston; Parl: Edgbaston; 106 Elmwood, VillaStationRd? Thomas BOND Hd Wid 35/abt 1866 Coachman's Domestic Warwickshire, Birmingham Catherine J. MEERE Serv Wid 47/abt 1854 General Domestic Warwickshire, Ilmington Mary Ann MEERE Dau S 16 Worcestershire, Selly Oak Violet FLOOD Serv S 11 Warwickshire, Birmingham 1911 Census Reg: Kings Norton Sub District: Edgbaston ED: 25 Parish: Harborne Address: 39 Vivian Road Harborne B'gham County: Worcestershire Thomas Bond BOND, Thomas Head/M 46/1865 Job Master Birmingham BOND, Catherine Jane Wife/M/20 years 51/1860 Birmingham DUGMORE, Bert MansServant/S 25/1886 Groom Birmingham 1931 Death Address: 27 High Street Harborne, U D. Thanks again, Marsha Stringer (nee MEERE) [email protected] USA www.bittonfamilies.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of ELLEN SPENCE Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 1:40 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WAR] Missing Catherine Jane MEERE in 1911 Census Further to the last posting, I looked for Thomas Bond, who is still in Harborne. Interesting! He has a wife, one Catherine Jane Bond, aged 51, and they have been married 20 years apparently. I suspect they might have been living together, but not legally married. See what you think. Ellen ________________________________ From: Stringer <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, 28 July, 2010 17:41:28 Subject: [WAR] Missing Catherine Jane MEERE in 1911 Census Greetings, I'm still not able to find my Ggrandmother in the 1911 Census (do have membership). I've tried various search options, all with no results. Any suggestions? She's Catherine Jane MEERE (nee ARCHER) Born: 1851, Ilmington, Warwickshire M: 1868, Birmingham, Orlando John MEERE D: 1931, Edgbaston, Birmingham South, England (Sixth May, 1931 27 High Street Harborne, U D. Virtue L. Gittins present 47 Linden Road, Bournville, Birmingham) 1891 Census: She, my grandfather, and four GAunts are still at The Oak Inn, Selly Oak. 1901 Census (indexed MAN): Catherine Jane MEERE, Wid, Servant to Thomas BOND Harborne; EclPar: St. John's; Cty: Bham; Ward: Edgbaston; Parl: Edgbaston; 106 Elmwood, VillaStationRd? Marsha Stringer (nee MEERE) [email protected] USA www.bittonfamilies.com List archives are at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/WARWICK ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message List archives are at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/WARWICK ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message List archives are at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/WARWICK ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Ellen, Thanks also for the reinforcement that you do think this is really her. I'm still shaking my head that you managed to find her. As she didn't die until 1931, I knew she had to be somewhere. I tried a little searching for a maybe wife (Hannah, b 1864, per 1891 census) for 1866 Thomas BOND. There's a maybe 1889 marriage, with a Heather MORGAN as one of the listed brides. There's also a Hannah BOND death in 1897, age 36, a couple of years older than the 1891 census age. I couldn't come up with any likely deaths for Thomas, so don't know how the relationship with my Catherine Jane ended. Most of what I've found for my Selly Oak family has been in Birmingham (Library, etc.) I think the change from WOR to WAR was abt 1903? We met and spent time with several listers back in 2000 -- our first extended stay in the area. During the visit a lister friend drove us to the location where Catherine Jane died in 1931: Address: 27 High Street Harborne, U D. It's sort of still there. The area of the home has apparently been incorporated into an adjacent pub (per the gentleman we met from the pub). The steps, doors, windows have all been covered up (bricked/cemented over). I think times were difficult for Catherine Jane. Her husband was one of five brothers who all died in the 1880s, in their 20s/30s, perhaps of TB (ordered only Orlando's death cert). An elder sister died 1860s, soon after marrying). Three of the brothers left behind widows with several children; the fourth brother two children; the fifth not yet married. Since that first trip in 2000, I've managed to find members of most of the brothers, including several 2nd/3rd cousins. The different branches were not aware of the others. Our MEERE and THOMPSON lines originated in/around Bitton (between Bristol/Bath) and several of the family wills have been transcribed and are on the bittonfamilies website. Thanks again, Marsha Stringer (nee MEERE) [email protected] USA www.bittonfamilies.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of ELLEN SPENCE Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 6:26 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WAR] Missing Catherine Jane MEERE in 1911 Census Hi Marsha It's them alright. As the street name of Station Road is quite a common one, I went back to the 1901 enumeration district description. Using a reasonably current A-Z street map of Birmingham and area, I can plot Thomas Bond's movements from 1891 onwards, and obviously Catherine Meere from 1901. The roads are still there, which is lucky. In 1891 Thomas is living on a main road that goes south to Harborne, in the Ladywood area, which is to the south west of Birmingham centre. The other 3 addresses are within a quarter mile, half mile max of one another. High Street Harborne runs west to east, linking up with Harborne Road, and swinging upwards, this eventually links to Monument Road. One of the roads leading off from High Street upwards is Station Road. Another road leading south from High Street is Vivian Road. Despite the inaccuracies in age and place of birth, I am fairly convinced Thomas and Catherine are the right people. Too much of a coincidence. Some further ways to research them more fully, but you either need to ask for someone on the ground to check some details out for you, or if you come over to England for a holiday, take a trip to Brum. 1. Trade directories - some are online - you may be able to track Thomas through his occupation or through street directories. 2. Rate books. 3. Electoral records. These won't show Catherine until 1919, as she won't have a vote until then, but you would then be able to track them to when they moved to various addresses exactly. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether these pieces of information would be held in Birmingham Central library, or elsewhere. I say this because the area you are looking at was assigned to Worcestershire, and it was only as Birmingham expanded and claimed more suburbs, that all the areas we now talk about as Birmingham came into the bigger pot. This was either late nineteenth or early twentieth century. It's not my area, but I'm sure one of the other regular posters would be able to enlighten us on that aspect. Anyway, it certainly seems to me that Catherine was living over the brush with Thomas, possibly because he was still married and couldn't get a divorce? I know he says he is widowed, but that could be another convenient blurring of facts. Lot of supposition, but I think the fact that they were living together and gave it out that they were married would be easy in a suburb of a big urban conurbation. Easy to be anonymous in the crowd. Regards Ellen